1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sunroof apparatus provided on a roof of a vehicle, and more particularly to a position regulation of a sunshade provided in the sunroof apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally known a sunroof apparatus which freely opens and closes an opening formed in the roof of the vehicle by a sliding panel and covers a lower side of the sliding panel by a sunshade provided in the opening in a side of a passenger room so as to freely open and close.
Mounting frames are provided in both sides in the side of the passenger room of the opening of the roof in the vehicle, and the sliding panel (the roof panel) is mounted to front and rear panel sliders slidably fitted to a panel sliding groove formed in the mounting frame, respectively, for example, by a pin connection or a cam connection.
The sliding panel is driven by a push-pull cable mounted to a rear panel slider (a panel driving slider), and the sliding panel is located at a tilt position at which a rear end of the sliding panel is ascended with respect to a front end of the sliding panel, a closed position at which the whole of the sliding panel is positioned in the opening of the roof, and an open position at which the sliding panel moves to a rear side of the opening via a slide waiting position at which the rear end of the sliding panel descends to a lower side of the roof, and the opening is open, by pushing and pulling the push-pull cable.
A movable drain extending to a width direction of the vehicle is arranged in the lower side of the rear end of the sliding panel, and the movable drain is mounted to a drain slider which is slidably fitted to the panel sliding groove. The drain slider is connected to the sliding panel by a rod or the like, and the movable drain moves forward and rearward interlocking with the forward and rearward movement of the sliding panel.
The sunshade is placed in the opening in the side of the passenger room so as to freely slide in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle by mounting the sunshade to front and rear sunshade sliders which are slidably fitted to a sunshade sliding groove in an inner side of the panel sliding groove of the mounting frame. Thus, the sunshade is structured such as to cover the lower side of the sliding panel in the opening in the side of the passenger room so as to freely open and close. The sunshade can be manually opened and closed, and the movable drain is brought into contact with the rear sunshade slider and pushes the rear sunshade slider on the basis of the rear movement of the movable drain interlocking with the sliding panel, whereby the sunshade can be opened interlocking with the sliding panel.
The sunshade slider is conventionally provided with a projection as an engagement piece which protrudes in a perpendicular direction to a sliding direction by a compression spring, and a notch to which the projection is fitted is provided at a predetermined position of the sunshade sliding groove. Accordingly, in a state in which the sliding panel is fully closed, at the time of fully closing the sunshade by a manual operation, and at the time of fully opening the sunshade interlocking with the sliding panel, the sunshade at the fully closed position and the fully open position is held without moving from the position by fitting the projection of the sunshade slider to the notch of the sunshade sliding groove.
However, in this conventional holding means, since the projection operates perpendicularly to the sliding direction of the sunshade slider, an entanglement occurs in the projection at the time of operation, and there is a risk that the projection does not operate well.
Further, mechanical stoppers are conventionally provided in a front end portion and a rear end portion of the sunshade sliding groove, thereby regulating the position of the sunshade. That is, the structure is made such that when manually closing the sunshade in a state in which the sliding panel is fully closed, the front sunshade slider is brought into contact with the mechanical stopper in the front end portion, whereby the sunshade does not move forward any more. Further, the structure is made such that when further opening the half open or fully open sunshade in a state in which the sliding panel is half open or fully open, the rear sunshade slider is brought into contact with the mechanical stopper in the rear end portion of the sunshade sliding groove, the sunshade does not move rearward any more.
However, when manually opening the sunshade in a state in which the sliding panel is fully closed, the front sunshade slider is brought into contact with the front end of the movable drain, thereby regulating the more rearward movement of the sunshade. Further, when manually closing the sunshade in a state in which the sliding panel is half or fully open, the more forward movement of the sunshade is regulated by bringing the rear sunshade slider into contact with the rear end of the movable drain.
Accordingly, in the prior art, if the sunshade is manually opened and closed roughly, the sunshade slider collides with the movable drain, whereby a great impact is applied. In order to cope with this matter, it is necessary to make the movable drain thick so as to increase its strength, and it is necessary to firmly mount the movable drain to the drain slider by using a fastening means, such as a bolt, a rivet or the like.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sunroof apparatus in which a sunshade opened and closed to a predetermined position can be lightly held in such a manner as not to move from the position by suitably operating an engagement piece without generating any entanglement.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sunroof apparatus in which a great impact can be prevented from being applied to a movable drain even when a sunshade is manually opened and closed roughly.
In order to solve the problems mentioned above, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sunroof apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
a sliding panel in which an opening is formed in a roof of the vehicle, mounting frames are placed in both sides along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle in a side of a passenger room facing to the opening, front and rear panel sliders are fitted to a panel sliding groove formed in the mounting frame, and the sliding panel is slidably placed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by mounting the sliding panel to the front and rear panel sliders so as to open and close the opening of the roof in accordance with the sliding motion; and
a sunshade in which front and rear sunshade sliders are fitted to a sunshade sliding groove formed in the mounting frame, and the sunshade is placed in a lower side of the sliding panel so as to freely slide in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by mounting the sunshade to the front and rear sunshade sliders, whereby the sunshade is manually movable in the longitudinal direction and covers the lower side of the sliding panel,
wherein a notch is formed at a predetermined position of the sunshade sliding groove, and an engagement piece made of an elastic member and being capable of fitting to the notch is integrally provided in the front and/or rear sunshade slider, and
wherein the sunshade moving to a position at which the engagement piece and the notch are fitted is lightly held in accordance with the fitting between the engagement piece and the notch in such a manner as not to move from the moved position.
In the present invention, because the structure is made such that the engagement piece made of the elastic member is integrally provided in the front and/or rear sunshade slider and the engagement piece is fitted to the notch formed in the sunshade sliding groove by the rotation around the base end, the engagement piece is not entangled at the time of operating, so that an operability is good and an operation sound can be reduced. Further, since the engagement piece and the notch fitted thereto are combined, a structure of the holding means for the sunshade is simple, so that it is possible to achieve a compact size and a weight saving and to reduce an assembling man-hour.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sunroof apparatus for a vehicle comprising:
a sliding panel in which an opening is formed in a roof of the vehicle, mounting frames are placed in both sides along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle in a side of a passenger room facing to the opening, front and rear panel sliders are fitted to a panel sliding groove formed in the mounting frame, and the sliding panel is slidably placed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by mounting the sliding panel to the front and rear panel sliders so as to open and close the opening of the roof in accordance with the sliding motion;
a movable drain extending in a width direction of the vehicle, in which a drain slider is fitted to the panel sliding groove, and the movable drain is placed in a lower side of a rear end of the sliding panel so as to freely slide in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by mounting the movable drain to the drain slider; and
a sunshade in which front and rear sunshade sliders are fitted to a sunshade sliding groove formed in the mounting frame, and the sunshade is placed in a lower side of the sliding panel and an upper side of the movable drain so as to freely slide in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle by mounting the sunshade to the front and rear sunshade sliders, whereby the sunshade is manually movable in the longitudinal direction and covers the lower side of the sliding panel,
wherein a stopper protruding above the sunshade sliding groove is integrally provided in the movable drain slider, and a rear end of the stopper is brought into contact with a front end of the rear sunshade slider, thereby allowing the sunshade to move to a rear side interlocking with a rearward movement of the movable drain,
wherein at the time of manually opening the sunshade with respect to the sliding panel in a state in which the sliding panel is fully closed, the sunshade is inhibited from moving rearward further by bringing the rear end of the front sunshade slider into contact with the front end of the stopper, and
wherein at the time of manually closing the sunshade with respect to the sliding panel which is in an open state including a half open state, the sunshade is inhibited from moving forward further by bringing the front end of the rear sunshade slider into contact with the rear end of the stopper.
In the present invention, because the sunshade slider is brought into contact with the stopper integrally provided with the drain slider at the time of manually opening and closing the sunshade, thereby inhibiting the sunshade from moving further, when the sunshade is manually opened and closed roughly, it is possible to prevent the impact from being directly applied to the movable drain from the sunshade slider, and it is possible to prevent the great impact from being applied to the movable drain. Accordingly, it is not necessary to make the movable drain thick, it is possible to intend to achieve a thin structure and a weight saving, it is not necessary to firmly mount the movable drain to the drain slider by a bolt fastening, a rivet fastening or the like, and it is possible to simplify the mounting of the movable drain.
In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to mount an impact damping member, such as a rubber or the like, to a surface of the stopper. Thus, it is possible to further increase an impact reducing effect and to more effectively reduce the impact.